Ascension Era
The Ascension Era (or AE for short) is a timeline featured in Mobile Suit Gundam: Three-Way War, Mobile Suit Gundam: Shadows of Ascent and Mobile Suit Gundam: Transcendent Skies. History The Ascension Era had begun sometime around 2400 A.D., after numerous technological advances, and most importantly, the miniaturization of the Aries-type Fusion Reactor. This invention led to future military advances, and also the start of cleaner energy generation, helping clean the heavily polluted Earth. The creation of these reactors also finally allowed colonization of the remaining planets in the solar system, most importantly, Jupiter's moon, Titan, and far more effective colonization of Earth's moon, Moon. The name of this era was agreed upon by the United Nations, ''which was disbanded in ''AE 0035. '' The concept of mobile suits had been discussed since the early twenties of the first ''Ascension Century. A mobile suit had been proven to be far more effective than the current combat machines, including vehicles such as tanks and fighter jets. In around AE 0030, the first mobile suit was made, but it was for civilian use (here on after a mobile worker). Shortly after this, in AE 0032, the first military suit was produced, the OMS-A1 Trident. After realizing the importance of mobile suits and the escalation of inner conflicts, however, the world has been separated into three power blocs: the American and European Federation '(AEF), the '''First Asian League '(FAL), and the 'Independent States of Oceania '(ISO). This event was called The Great Seperation, and it occurred in AE 0035. Chronology * 2200 A.D. - Following the end of World War III, START IV ''and ''START V are signed, leading to near-complete nuclear disarmament of the world. Every country with nuclear weapons only has 5% of their former nuclear arsenal in case of an emergency. * 2385 A.D. - Celebrations of the 330th year of existence of the Federate Republic of China, established in 2055 A.D., end in bloodshed due to the tensions between the region's ethnicites. The army, weakened by the ongoing exercises in North America, cannot effectively stop the conflict. After the assistance of other nations, mainly the United States, a peace is achieved. Following this conflict, the arguments of forming a global government arise. * 2387 A.D. - The Aries-type Fusion Reactor ''is developed, allowing the end of all use of fossil fuels and the slow regeneration of Earth's environment. However, the reactors are still too large to be widely used. * 2396 A.D. - The miniaturization of the ''Aries-type ''is made possible and the immediate mass production of the reactor is started. The drive's efficiency and its compact size are superior to fossil fuel generators, and the use of fossil fuels is now banned worldwide under large fines. * 2399 A.D. - The ''United Nations decide that on January 1st, 2400 A.D., the '''Ascension Era's year 0 will begin. The Earth Federation, a nation covering most of Earth's land, is founded. Small-scale conflict ensues in the following years. * 0000 AE - The first year of the Ascension Era. Immediate efforts to revitalize the environment have been initiated, starting with the Amazon rainforest ravaged by previous mining efforts in the 2100s. * 0004 AE - Newest spaceship models equipped with the miniaturized reactors can now reach Mars in less than two days. The colonization of Moon, halted in the last century due to fuel costs and propulsion inefficiency, was reinitialized. Mars' colonization project, dubbed Astra Project, is now initiated. Earth's environment is now 15% restored. * 0008 AE - The first lunar city, Von Braun City, is founded. People flock in droves from Earth, allowing more nature restoration on Earth. The planet is now 25% restored, and the focus changes to the African continent. * 0009 AE - A strange occurrence is detected within a human born during a space expedition that happened over five years ago. The child is reported to have inhuman talent operating cockpits and various machinery, and a very high sense of empathy. The reason of this behavior is unknown. * 0015 AE - The first cases of space piracy are reported. The Earth Federation responds with the creation of EFSF, the Earth Federation Space Forces. The only vehicles that can be used are jets modified for space use. Earth's environment is now restored to 45%, and the focus is changed to Europe, especially the Scandinavian peninsula. * 0016 AE - There are now hundreds of cases of behavior familiar to the child's behavior seven years ago. During an investigation of one of these cases, the subject is seen to be glowing and seeming to be controlling a console with his own will. Following this event, the term of Resonant has been implemented and the study of their behavior has started. * 0019 AE - Yuka Misaki, AEF's future ace pilot, is born on May 19th. * 0020 AE - The first plans to colonize Titan are now being discussed. The average flight time to Titan is estimated to be around a week. Mars is now an active colony, with even more people moving to other planets for a new life. Earth's environment is now 65% restored and the air quality is far better. Australia had been chosen to be the next regeneration target. * 0023 AE - Speculations over military use of Resonant ''people have turned into a legitimate project called ''Project RT-0. Tensions between the society and Resonant keep increasing, up to the point where the Earth Federation has to quell riots and convince the people that they are equal to the new type of humans. * 0028 AE - The Earth's environment is now completely restored. Only large cities remain on the planet, and the air is now devoid of any harmful substances. The first concepts and designs of mobile suits appear. The military is obviously skeptic. * 0030 AE - The first mobile suit/mobile worker appears, but only for civilian use. The EFSF ''shows interest in this technology and requests a military mobile suit model. * 0032 AE - The first military mobile suit, the OMS-A1 ''Trident, is now mass produced. The EFSF ''phase out fighter jets for mobile suits, and their active development and improvements is now started. * 0033 AE - First internal conflicts within the ''Earth Federation Parliament ''appear. The huge military advances are causing a slow separation of the government. The ''OMS-A1II Trident Kai ''is now being mass produced, attempting to alleviate the previously found problems within the ''Trident. ''Earlier models are mounted with the same smoothbore cannon, and once the ''MagAccel Rifles have entered production, the cannons have been replaced with the rifles. * 0034 AE - The first mobile suit conflict, albeit minor, has occurred between the future FAL ''and ''AEF. ''Tensions rapidly increase, and the government is falling apart. * 0035 AE - The separation of the ''EF now occurs. FAL, AEF ''and ''ISO are founded. Each one of the factions has a goal to reunite the world under one government - the AEF resembling most of the old government. Due to the current chaos in the Earth Sphere, all colonization programs are paused, forcing the colonists to live without any support from the nations. They are, of course, highly displeased. * 0038 AE - The AEF ''creates the ''Illios Special Forces (ISF) to combat high-priority targets and to conduct important, top secret operations. Mobile suit development is resumed in all power blocs, and the AEF ''initiates the 'Gundam Initiative, 'a development program of advanced mobile suits tasked with difficult tasks. The first Gundam-type unit developed under this program is the 'GAMS-0001 Gundam Exalt' (GAMS standing for Gundam-type Advanced Mobile Suit.), built shortly before the start of the ''Three-Way War. * 0040 AE - The Three-Way War ''has broke out. All three of the blocs fight against each other to unite the world under their rule. The ''Gundam Exalt is rolled out, much to the shock of the other two blocs. ** March 2nd, 0040 AE - An unexpected attack at a AEF military base in Kiev is conducted. The ISF counters and repels the assailants. ** April 4th, 0040 AE - ISO forces brutally attack a city in South America, killing a third of its inhabitants. AEF ''declares war on the Independent States of Oceania, soon followed by ''FAL. ** June 12th, 0040 AE - The Gundam Exalt 'is used for the first time by its pilot, ''Yuka Misaki. The mission is a massive success, and worldwide news outlets discuss the mysterious unit. * 0042 AE - The Three-Way War ends with the Singapore Peace Treaty. FAL and ISO are defeated by the AEF, in no small part due to the ISF. The world is reunited into the New Earth Federation, and colonization programs are resumed. Dissatisfied remnants of FAL and ISO leave the Earth Sphere to an unknown area of the solar system to form an independent nation of ''Gestral''. ** December 14th, 0042 AE - Project Tower ''is initialized by the ''NEF High Command. The project's concept was to construct hidden Federation bases. These have been indeed constructed in the Asteroid Belt - Base L13 and Base K12 ''are the only known finished bases, and they were used later on as the headquarters of the White Hearts. * 0044 AE - The world is currently at peace. Tensions have died down, and the ''Gundam Initiative is designing the second generation ''GAMS-0010 Gundam Ascent'', a more balanced and agile unit. Its variants soon follow. * June 19th, 0045 AE - A sudden attack is conducted by Gestral forces on Von Braun City on the Moon. Before the EFSF sorties and pushes the hostile forces back, half a million inhabitants die in the ruins of the devastated lunar city. This incident is called the Moon Massacre, and brings the rise of a radical organization within the New Earth Federation government, the Crimson, rapidly gaining power within the parliament due to their radical, but meaningful opinions. ** September 8th, 0045 AE - After a sudden attack near Colony Five, Moon, Yuka Misaki is forced to eject from the '''Gundam Ascent's cockpit. Before she is rescued by her squadron, the remaining Gestral mobile suit captures her and takes her to an unknown location. The Ascent is recovered, however. ** September 14th, 0045 AE - White Hearts ''keep countering the forces of ''Gestral during the leader's absence. While progress is slow, it appears the conflict won't last for much longer. During this time, Crimson starts executing their plan of taking over the NEF government. Yuuichi Takeda, the leader of Crimson, still continues to trick the common people with propaganda against the Resonant. ** November 23rd, 0045 AE - Yuka Misaki escapes captivity by using a XGT-IC Romegatia Notia mobile suit. Weakened physically, but especially mentally, she manages to escape Gestral space and hail a Federation ship. She is immediately taken to the ship's sickbay to recover. ** November 24th, 0045 AE - Blood tests of Yuka Misaki reveal that she has turned into a Resonant during her captivity. When her squad-mates try questioning her, she doesn't reveal anything of her time at the prison facility with clear reluctance, except of her transition. ** November 29th, 0045 AE - The Gundam Ascent Whiteheart 'is finished. Yuka Misaki immediately takes control of the unit to combat remaining ''Gestral units, while investigating rumors of government officials disappearing. Technology This part discusses all of the technology used and invented by all parties in the Ascension Era, be it military or civilian-use. Pre-Earth Federation * Novak-type Radiation Scrubbers ** The Novak-type RS have been invented in the early 2300s. While plans have existed for almost a hundred years prior, technological stagnation of the 2200s following the end of the Third World War prevented any easy production. Russia, with assistance from other Central Europe countries, started mass-producing the technology and spread it around the world to contain and clean any irradiated areas from the war and the times before the war. The first area to be scrubbed and cleaned of radiation was the immediate area nearby the former Chernobyl Power Plant, Ukraine. Radiation scrubbers are still being used to this date, albeit powered using the Aries-type reactors and are mainly used on moons with next to no atmosphere. * Zero Modular Assembly Jets (ZMA-series) ** The ZMA-series are a modernized lineage of fighter jets and various jet-propelled aircraft produced before the arrival of Advanced Modular Assembly Jets. Experimental models are classified as ZMX. While the name suggests that this designation is only left to jet aircraft, this also applies to rocket-powered aircraft and the slowly emerging nuclear-powered aircraft (only large bombers and planes). These models are the: *** ZMA-010 Discovery ''(Stratosphere interceptor fighter) *** ''ZMA-011 Titan ''(Stratosphere bomber aircraft) *** ''ZMA-010-II Discovery II ''(Stratosphere interceptor fighter) *** ''ZMA-020 Tridentas ''(High stratosphere interceptor fighter) *** ''ZMA-021 Supertitan ''(High stratosphere nuclear-powered bomber aircraft) *** ''ZMA-021-J Supertitan ''(High stratosphere bomber aircraft) *** ''ZMX-029 Imperius ''(Mesosphere interceptor aircraft) *** ''ZMX-030 Munio ''(Mesosphere command aircraft) ** While mesosphere aircraft were constructed and were proven to be fully functional, the additional cost and area of combat made the projects unsuitable for the powers of the world at the time. * Linear Cockpits ** Linear cockpits are the last well-documented innovation used to this day. Following a streamlined design with dozens of assistance functions, mainly for pilots of fighter jets and cargo planes, these cockpits have later been used in space shuttles, spaceships and mobile suits. Earth Federation * All Modular Assembly Vehicles (AMA-series) ** Before the advent of mobile suits, the ''Earth Federation had experimented with vehicles based on a hard point system. This could change the operational parameters of any vehicle from the AMA series at any given time, if there was the time to replace the current module. While in its basic layout, each of the vehicles look perfectly normal, be it tanks or aircraft. Even after the arrival of mobile suits, the AMA series were being manufactured and upgraded for situations where mobile suits could not operate due to their sheer size. *** Models: *** AMA-001 Phoenix ''(Multipurpose modular fighter aircraft) **** ''AMA-001-B Phoenix Boost ''(High-speed pursuit modular fighter aircraft) *** ''AMA-002 Vanguard (Multipurpose modular main battle tank) **** AMA-002-D Vanguard Defender ''(Heavy modular main battle tank) *** ''AMA-003 Stormbearer (Multipurpose modular armored personnel carrier) **** AMA-003-C Stormbearer Command ''(Tactical-use modular armored personnel carrier) * Multitools ** Following further miniaturization of standard work equipment, multitools for small appliances have began to be produced. How they operate is a mystery only known to their producers, but it is known that most models are very well programmable. The best known example of this is the ''MT-1000 model produced by Kounan Manufacturing, which is widely used in criminal activities. A lot of models have also been modified to include a "surge" mode, which releases a jolt of electricity, able to bypass basic security systems of most civilian-use vehicles with linear cockpits. Mobile suits have also been confirmed to be able to be hijacked this way, however this only occurs with the very first models. * Mobile Suits ** Mobile suits are a new concept used in modern warfare. As main battle tank development slowly reached an end with advanced reactive armor, 200mm+ high velocity guns and high mobility, an all-purpose powerful weapon was required. The first military-use mobile suit is the now legendary '''OMS-A1 Trident, a mobile suit that is considered to be the first generation of mobile suit development. These generations are as follows: *** First generation: Trident and Trident Kai *** Second generation: Mass-produced mobile suits used by the AEF, FAL ''and ISO''. *** Third generation: The GAMS-000x '''models and the '''IMS-100 Shockwave. *** 3.5 generation: Mass produced NEF and Crimson mobile suits before the Gestral Conflict. The GAMS-0010 Gundam Ascent and Malefactor also fall in this category. *** Fourth generation: Mass-produced mobile suits after the Gestral Conflict. *** Fifth generation: Final 'GAMS-0xxx '''models. * Nano-bionic Implants and Organs ** Massive medical advances during the 2200s and 2300s got medicine up to a point where cloning tissue was possible. Bionic implants saw slow improvement and upgrades, and they proved to provide only small improvements over not having the organ replaced. This was most profound in the military, where a reliance on electronic systems inside a flawed mechanical chassis was not ideal. Aside from that, anti-rejection medication had to be taken semi-frequently to prevent further health complications associated with the organ rejection. Nano-bionic implants and organs rely on the electronic parts as little as they can, opting instead for cloned tissue of the original organ. The procedure of cloning an organ and implanting it with electronic implants takes a different amount of time depending on the damage of the former organ, the size and complexity of the organ. A nano-bionic heart would be a significant improvement over a bionic heart, and even a slight improvement over a natural heart, but the procedure of creating one can take up to several years, making "temporary implants" a widely used term. ** An example of an excellent nano-bionic implant candidate is the eye, where a nano-bionic eye can have increased capabilities over a natural eye. A minor software element is present in this eye, allowing the user to use their eyes to browse the internet, read the news and so on. This feature can be turned off. However, due to synchronization issues between a nano-bionic eye and a natural eye, it is highly recommended to replace the second eye as well. It takes at least five years to make a pair of nano-bionic eyes mainly due to the difficulties of cloning an eye flawlessly. American and European Federation * MagAccel Rifles ** The ''MagAccel line of weaponry is one of the most-used lines of rifles by the AEF, and the later NEF. Following closely on Gauss weaponry principles, the basic design works on the principle of electromagnets accelerating a projectile to a very high speed, increasing the penetrative power. The rifles have been used ever since they were adapted for the OMS-A1II Trident Kai, and their modifications still remain in wide use. * Carbon Armor ** Carbon armor was an experiment by the AEF to produce cheap, yet durable armor for their future equipment, such as mobile suits, helicopters and weapon components. Carbon armor relied on a special alloy consisting of carbon, tungsten and steel. This was affordable due to the relatively large deposits of tungsten that were located in future AEF territory during the 00s of the AE. Results proved to be relatively satisfactory, until a fatal result was spotted in the alloy, and that is the extremely low resistance to projectile weaponry, which was unacceptable at that time. The alloy would later be developed into the XT-Carbon Armor that was used on the later generations of NEF ''mobile suits, such as the ''FCS-1000 Silverllo. * Plasma Weaponry ** Plasma weaponry is the progenitor to beam weaponry that was mass-adapted first by the AEF. Plasma guns fire superheated matter at a target, disintegrating most of its armor. The major drawbacks are the constant need to replace plasma couplings and their limited amount of shots. As such, small-calibre plasma arms are much more preferable to the large calibre weaponry such as the 800mm plasma busters used by the FCS-0100 Wraith. The plasma sabers used by first and second generation AEF/NEF ''mobile suits, which are in a contained blade shape and which operate at lower temperature serve as alternatives to beam and heat blades. Maintaining these weapons is financially far easier. A significant disavantage of these weapons is the inferior power compared to beam blades and sabres. * Beam Weaponry ** Before ''The Great Separation, concepts of beam weaponry were handled by the future AEF area. For a long time, the biggest issue was the fact that a mobile suit reactor wasn't capable of providing sufficient power to the weapons without powering other areas of the suit off. As the designs were streamlined over time, the use of small-caliber beam weaponry, such as pistols and sabers was approved. Rifles were the highest caliber the AEF forces fielded in battle, as larger guns needed bigger compromises. Independent States of Oceania * Beam Weaponry ** The beam weaponry fielded by the ISO ''was mostly developed from the scraps of the old ''Earth Federation and by stealing information from the AEF. All of this came to the cost of rushed development in order to try and repel the invading AEF forces near the end of the war. These weapons were very dangerous, but their overheating and very low durability issues were their biggest drawbacks. Plans to improve and enhance the weapons were well underway, but they never came to fruition, and as such, only the IMS-100 Shockwave and the IMS-050 Waveshaper were adapted for beam weaponry. Other mobile suits fielded by the ISO never received such upgrades. New Earth Federation * Adtonitum Armor ** Adtonitum Armor is made using low-quality materials. This makes it far less effective at deflecting enemy fire compared to the XT-Carbon Armor, but the point of this armor is to not deflect enemy fire. The shots that are absorbed by the armor charge special batteries and reactors. This is used for special docking ships, some mobile suit parts and low-cost drones that use this stored energy to fire back at the enemy targets. * Multi-view Cockpit ** A proposed replacement for the aging linear cockpit design. By the end of the Three-Way War, linear cockpits in mobile suits were reported to be limited in visibility. As such, multi-view cockpits were conceived and were begun to be installed inside new models. Multi-view cockpits consist of multiple screens placed around the mobile suit seat, which in turn could traverse up to 90 degrees in both directions. Rear screens weren't placed, as they were considered pointless. While these cockpits are superior in visibility, they are more expensive to make, raising the price of a single suit by a considerable margin. * Panoramic Cockpit ** A minor improvement over the multi-view cockpit. The set of screens is replaced with one large screen carefully installed inside the cockpit, allowing full 360 degrees of visibility with a fully traversing seat. The disadvantage is further increased price, as sets of outside cameras have to be installed to provide visual feedback and the screen itself is difficult to make. As such, this cockpit is only being used by a handful of mobile suit designs.